Bachelor [EN]: Chapter 888

“Even though the Nether Lightning Beasts were left behind by the elders of the noble clans, won’t we be attacked if we enter without the Spirit Guiding Token?”

One of the ghost creatures, who seemed intelligent, hesitated before asking.

“Since the outsiders entered first, the Nether Lightning Beast will target them first. We can secretly follow behind and make our move then. The Five Dragon Cleaver alone won’t be enough to deal with all of them, but with the Nether Lightning Beast’s help, it won’t be a problem. Attacking from the outside would make it difficult to defeat the outsiders, but to annihilate them, we must confine them inside.”

The ghost creatures no longer questioned the Blood Armor Puppet’s words.

“We must also be careful of the Nether Lightning Beast that chased after the bait. Did you send someone? If the bait is devoured too quickly or if another variable arises and the Nether Lightning Beast returns, they must inform us at Wanlibu.”

The Blood Armor Puppet paused for a moment before asking.

“Yes, Great One! The White Ghost, who is most skilled in concealment and escape techniques, is already following from afar. They will not fail.”

“The White Ghost! The one who only had an arm cut off even when facing the strongest outsider?”

“That is correct. It is her.”

“Hmm, she should be able to handle it without any problems. We should also depart now. The outsiders must have already reached the underground palace of the sacred pond.”

The Blood Armor Puppet nodded and gave the order. The ghost creatures followed the Blood Armor Puppet into the navy blue passage.

Kihahaha!

The ghost creatures left outside simultaneously raised their heads and roared. Then, black bones fell from the dark clouds, and the sound of sobbing covered the sky.

* * *

KWAANG! KWA-KWAANG!

Han Li extended one hand, and golden lightning bolts shot out one after another towards the rear. The target was the Nether Lightning Beast that was chasing him. The Nether Lightning Beast, with its flashing silver lightning, was relentlessly pursuing him.

When the golden lightning struck, the Nether Lightning Beast seemed more excited than surprised, emitting a silver aura. The Evil-Slaying Divine Light was engulfed by the silver aura and sucked into the Nether Lightning Beast’s mouth.

KURURUNG!

A low rumble echoed from the beast’s stomach. In that gap, Han Li flapped his two wings and appeared hundreds of feet away, increasing the distance between him and the Nether Lightning Beast.

However, the Nether Lightning Beast was not in a hurry. It growled lowly, flashing the silver lightning on its legs, trying to catch up to him.

Han Li didn’t even need to turn his head to know what the Nether Lightning Beast was doing. The Nether Lightning Beast’s escape technique was so fast that even when he exerted all his strength, it would close the distance within a short period and attack him relentlessly.

If Han Li hadn’t been able to combine the wind and lightning attributes of his Wind Lightning Escape Technique in a short time, he would have already been caught by the Nether Lightning Beast’s attacks.

He didn’t know how much longer he could hold out. There had been more than a few times when he was almost hit by the blue light emitted from the Nether Lightning Beast’s claws, and he had even tasted bitterness when he was grazed by the blue light not long ago.

It was fortunate that the Qiankun Fan [a fan with mystical properties] given to him by the White-Haired Beauty was so miraculous, creating a huge illusion that absorbed most of the attack’s power. However, the killing intent-condensed armor and lightning robe were slightly cracked, and his vitality was also somewhat damaged.

After that, whenever the Nether Lightning Beast closed the distance even slightly, Han Li would continuously release the Evil-Slaying Divine Light to slow down its speed.

Half an hour later, Han Li and the Nether Lightning Beast had left the gray mountain range and were flying further and further away. This was thanks to his deeper magic power and mastery of escape techniques compared to cultivators of the same level, as well as his possession of a large amount of Evil-Slaying Divine Light.

If it had been another Nascent Soul cultivator or an early-stage Void Refinement cultivator, they would have already been caught and devoured by the Nether Lightning Beast. This was why the demon kings, including the Six-Legged, were pessimistic about the fate of Han Li, who was acting as bait.

Earlier, Han Li had used a considerable amount of Evil-Slaying Divine Light to break the Nether Restriction, so the demon kings thought he wouldn’t last long. Han Li now felt that the Six-Legged and the others wouldn’t be paying attention to him.

‘Now is the time to escape.’

He couldn’t deal with the Nether Lightning Beast using ordinary methods, but he had over a dozen lightning beads, two newly refined types of talismans [paper charms with magical inscriptions], and the trump card of the mature form of the Devouring Gold Beetles.

These were things he couldn’t use carelessly unless it was a matter of life and death. Han Li quickly thought.

He couldn’t control thousands of Devouring Gold Beetles, but releasing a few to annoy the Nether Lightning Beast was worth trying. To increase his chances of success, he poured his consciousness into the spirit beast ring he carried.

In the gap when he released the Evil-Slaying Divine Light and the Nether Lightning Beast hesitated, something flew out of Han Li’s sleeve. It was three mature Devouring Gold Beetles.

The Nether Lightning Beast was happily swallowing the golden lightning when it noticed the golden beetles flying towards it. It was puzzled for a moment, then nonchalantly released a silver aura. The silver aura split into three streams, each heading towards a golden beetle.

KWAANG! KWA-KWAANG!

Thunder rumbled, and the golden beetles were submerged in the lightning. But the next moment, a look of surprise flashed in the Nether Lightning Beast’s eyes.

WHIR!

When the lightning faded, the three spirit insects did not disappear into ashes. Instead, they had grown several times larger and charged forward. As the spirit insects charged with a ferocious appearance, the Nether Lightning Beast wrapped itself in silver lightning and struck the air with its front paw.

At the same time, three blue lights in the shape of claws were emitted simultaneously, splitting the golden beetles.

TSUCHUK!

The blue light exploded, and as the golden beetles were covered in blue light, a wind with the pressure of spiritual energy swept through, and the surrounding heaven and earth spiritual energy was sucked in as if it were collapsing.

Confident in this attack, the Nether Lightning Beast didn’t even check the result and tried to rush towards Han Li, boosting the silver lightning all over its body.

But a whirring sound came from within the blue light, grabbing the beast’s attention. The three golden beetles had already rushed in front of the Nether Lightning Beast. Their entire bodies were shining gold, and they seemed completely unharmed.

This time, the Nether Lightning Beast was truly surprised, and its eyes turned fierce. The Nether Lightning Beast opened its mouth and engulfed the golden beetles with a silver aura. Then, thunder rumbled from its four legs, and the Nether Lightning Beast, transformed into silver lightning, disappeared from the spot.

In that gap, Han Li fled over a thousand feet away, transformed into a crystal thread, concealed his presence, and watched the beast.

However, the Nether Lightning Beast was furious because of the golden beetles Han Li had released. Its eyes became even more ferocious, and silver lightning flashed wildly all over its body. It seemed determined to kill Han Li this time.

When Han Li attacked again with the Evil-Slaying Divine Light, the Nether Lightning Beast’s form blurred, passing through the golden lightning and rushing towards Han Li. Han Li, feeling a chill in his chest, moved through the air, disappearing like a ghost and reappearing in the distance.

However, the Nether Lightning Beast closed the distance in an instant. Upon closer inspection, there was a pair of wings on the Nether Lightning Beast’s back.

KURURUNG KWA-KWANG!

As it shook its two wings, the Nether Lightning Beast transformed vaguely amidst the thunder. Then, after a moment, it appeared near a dozen feet away before disappearing like a bubble.

‘Shadow Escape Technique!’

Feeling strange, Han Li turned his head, and his face turned pale. He had not expected the Nether Lightning Beast to use such a bizarre escape technique.

The Shadow Escape Technique was not the fastest escape technique, but it was definitely a very rare and mysterious one.

But now was not the time to be surprised. As soon as the Nether Lightning Beast revealed itself, it shot feathers condensed from lightning towards him and disappeared into the thunder.

As Han Li flinched and tried to do something, he heard thunder above his head, and a huge net covered him.

Fortunately, Han Li instinctively twisted his body to avoid the net, and soon the lightning robe flew up, blocking the silver lightning in the air.

Han Li quickly tried to escape the encirclement of the silver lightning net, flashing blue light, but the Nether Lightning Beast, seeing this, sneered, and its form blurred again before appearing in front of Han Li and swinging its front paw.

A gale swept through the Nether Lightning Beast’s strike, and everything seemed to disappear as the surroundings turned pitch black. Han Li opened his mouth and spat out a small golden sword, but the Nether Lightning Beast was still sneering as it looked at the sword.

TEANG!

The golden sword and the beast’s front paw collided, but the sword was silently repelled. Not only that, but it moved its claws like lightning, grabbed the small sword, and squeezed it.

With its innate monstrous strength and a body as hard as a top-grade treasure, the Nether Lightning Beast believed it could crush the small sword without any doubt.

CHAE-CHAE-CHAENG!

However, the golden sword trembled and dimmed, but it did not shatter into powder. It had underestimated the Azure Bamboo Cloudpeak Sword, which was one of the toughest in the Spirit World.

He couldn’t injure the Nether Lightning Beast with the sword, but the Nether Lightning Beast wouldn’t be able to do anything to the sword in a short time either.

PAAT.

Just as Han Li was about to be crushed by the front paw, a golden aura swirled around his face. As he roared lowly, golden light was emitted from his body, and scale armor covered his entire body, while a golden figure with three heads and six arms appeared behind him.

The six arms slowly spread out, and the strange fluctuations around him subsided like calm waves. At that moment, Han Li flapped his wings and disappeared into the subtle wind.

The Nether Lightning Beast growled lowly, then suddenly swung its front paw towards the air thirty feet away.

KUKUNG!

A roar erupted, and the air rippled with an invisible force, causing Han Li to stagger and pop out of the air. The Nether Lightning Beast had easily broken his teleportation.

Without hesitation, Han Li flew away, flicking his sleeves and showering over a dozen blue beads like rain. They were the lightning beads he had refined with great care.

The Nether Lightning Beast looked at them with a mocking gaze, and its form blurred as it tried to use the Shadow Escape Technique.

“……~!”

Just then, Han Li’s expression changed, and he formed a hand seal with one hand. The Nether Lightning Beast felt an extreme pain as if it had been cut by a blade, and its form was revealed. It had failed to use the Shadow Escape Technique.

In the moment the Nether Lightning Beast hesitated, over a dozen blue beads flew towards it. The Nether Lightning Beast was in too much pain to care about a few beads. It simply wrapped itself in silver lightning and hurriedly examined its body.

Seeing the Nether Lightning Beast lower its guard, Han Li’s eyes sparkled, and he moved his consciousness.

KWA-KWA-KWANG!

Over a dozen lightning beads exploded simultaneously, flashing blue light. A blue lightning mass rose, growing and shrinking, and then expanded, causing over a dozen powerful lightning energies to explode.

The beast roared in surprise at the tremendous thunder and lightning power.

Even though it was skilled at swallowing lightning, it couldn’t easily absorb the power that was comparable to the strike of a Combination Stage cultivator [a high level of cultivation].

Moreover, Han Li was using his consciousness to move the Devouring Gold Beetles inside the Nether Lightning Beast’s stomach, making a mess of its insides, so it would be difficult to properly use its divine powers.

Thunderclouds covered the sky, and thick blue heavenly lightning flashed within the clouds. The deafening thunder was enough to make one’s ears ring.

Han Li flicked both sleeves, releasing talismans. The talismans, spinning and floating in the air, were all shimmering with silver magic characters, totaling 108.

He formed hand seals with both hands, pointing towards the thunderclouds in the air. At the same time, the talismans transformed into over a hundred silver lights and shot towards him. The next moment, silver light flashed above the huge thunderclouds, and 108 talismans appeared.

Han Li spun around, sending magic seals towards the strange talismans.

PEO-PEONG!

The talismans exploded, creating a huge light formation. Then, a palace appeared in the center of the light formation. The entire palace was shimmering with silver, and heavenly sounds could be heard, making the listener feel good.

But if one listened closely, the heavenly music seemed to disappear as if it didn’t exist. As the light formation was completed, Han Li was greatly pleased and hurriedly cast a spell to descend.

KEHAHAHAHAK!

Just then, a tremendous roar was heard from within the thunderclouds.

KWA-KWA-KWANG KWARURUNG!

An earth-shattering thunderclap was heard, and the blue thunderclouds shook violently before several streaks of lightning pierced through the thunderclouds.

The lightning streaks were so thick that they wrapped around the thunderclouds like dragons. After a moment, the thunderclouds disappeared, and the thick lightning streaks also vanished.